Mitt's retort on health care

In the course of a story about Rick Perry's critique of Mitt Romney's health care record, the Globe's Matt Viser hints at how Romney might respond to a direct swipe at the Massachusetts insurance mandate:

One of the primary problems conservatives have with Romney’s health care plan in Massachusetts is the mandate that residents obtain health insurance or face tax penalties. But Perry may have a hard time criticizing Romney on signing a law that included a mandate.

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Perry signed an executive order mandating that all teenage girls in Texas receive the human papillomavirus vaccine to guard against the sexually transmitted infection. The Texas Legislature later overruled that decision, and Perry said this month that he was wrong to have pursued the policy.

So for the purposes of a GOP presidential primary: Is it worse to back an insurance mandate for all citizens, and succeed, or push an HPV vaccine mandate for sixth-grade girls, and fail? The question could apply to the general election, too.